Contents

History

The royal family (from left to right): Myrcella, Tommen, Robert, Cersei, and Joffrey.

After Joffrey succeeded Robert as king, he changed the heraldry of his House from a crowned stag, to a crowned stag and a lion rampant, giving equal standing to his mother's family, House Lannister. Metaphorically revealing Joffrey's "true colors", this reflects how he was never particularly close to Robert, while he was doted on and indulged by Cersei, so he always thought of himself more as a Lannister.

Soon after Joffrey took the throne, Stannis Baratheon sent letters across all of Westeros, revealing that none of Cersei's children, including Joffrey, were Robert's children. Rather, they were all bastards of incest fathered by Cersei's own twin brother Jaime. Stannis discovered this in a letter sent to him by Eddard Stark just before he was executed on Joffrey's orders. Stannis therefore declared himself Robert's lawful successor as king, being his oldest brother.

Robert's youngest brother Renly Baratheon had already declared his claim to the throne as soon as Robert died, based solely on the fact that Joffrey was an insane monster unsuitable to rule, and Cersei Lannister's puppet. The rumors that Joffrey was a bastard of incest only served to strengthen Renly's claim.

While the two surviving Baratheon brothers bickered between themseves over which of the two of them had the better claim to the throne, virtually all of the lords from the Stormlands who were sworn to House Baratheon abandoned Joffrey to declare for either Renly or Stannis (mostly Renly, with a few declaring for Stannis). Other than a few court retainers in King's Landing, which were always more attached to the royal government than the Baratheons and Stormlands, "House Baratheon of King's Landing" contained essentially no links with the historical "House Baratheon" except for the name.

Members

King {Robert Baratheon}, called "the Usurper" by Targaryen loyalists, the head of the family and the King before his death.

Note: Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are legally held to be the children of King Robert Baratheon, but they are actually bastards born of incest between Queen Cersei and her twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister. This information is not publicly known in Seven Kingdoms except as a rumor and only a few know it to be true.

This makes House Baratheon of King's Landing a nigh-cadet branch of House Lannister. Of course, given that bastard children (particularly unacknowledged bastards) cannot inherit, it is unlikely that it will ever be considered an "official" cadet branch of House Lannister.

Sworn to House Baratheon of King's Landing

Image gallery

In the books

Houses sworn to House Baratheon of King's Landing in the books include:

House Blount

House Chelsted

House Hayford

House Hogg of Hogs Sow

House Massey of Stonedance

House Stokeworth of Stokeworth

House Thorne

In the books, it is Stannis Baratheon who first begins to suspect that Robert Baratheon has no true born heirs, but he knew that Robert wouldn't listen to anything he had to say. So he enlisted Jon Arryn's help in his investigations, because Robert listened to Jon. Eddard Stark found out that they travelled together when visiting Gendry at the blacksmith and baby Barra at the brothel, while he was trying to trace Jon Arryn's footsteps. Jon Arryn found the proof in the book of lineages that he borrowed from Grand Maester Pycelle. He died saying "the seed is strong", i.e. black hair is a dominant trait over blonde hair. When Jon Arryn dies suddenly and mysteriously, Stannis leaves King's Landing for Dragonstone. Stannis talks about this to Renly, while negotiating with him at Storm's End. The letter Eddard Stark writes to Stannis saying he is Robert's heir and heir to the Iron Throne never reaches Stannis, and it is used by Cersei as proof of Lord Eddard's treason. While in the Red Keep's dungeon, Ned laments that the truth about Cersei's children was written right on their faces: all three are blonde and look nothing like Robert, but all of Robert's bastard children strongly resemble him.